Only two, sometimes three, years per decade feature full ballots in Kentucky politics, and 2014 is one of them. Logan Countians will elect all local office holders except for circuit clerk, mayors of Auburn and Lewisburg, and a few school board members.
Thirty-eight candidates had filed for local offices when the calendar year 2013 came to an end. A 39th filed his papers by the end of the week during the first two days of January. Candidates have until the close of business on Tuesday, Jan. 28, to make their intentions known.
Already contested primaries have been set up for sheriff, jailer, and four of the magisterial districts. Meanwhile a minimum of four contested races are guaranteed in November, since a Democrat and a Republican have filed in three races along with a non-partisan race for district judge.
The contested fields in the Democratic primary so far are as follows (in order of filing):
Sheriff: Wallace Whitaker, Steve Hadden, Robert Kimmel
Jailer: Wendell Jackson, Edward W. Hardin
Magistrate District 2: Wayne Stratton, Jack Crossley
Magistrate District 3: Gary Sears, Barry Joe Wright, Bobby G. Moore, William Sanford
Magistrate District 4: Drexel Johnson, Mike Kirby, Dale Givens
Magistrate District 6: Thomas Bouldin, Clay Bilyeu
Contested races already guaranteed for fall are as follows:
Jailer: Phil Gregory vs. winner of the Democratic primary
Magistrate District 1: Russell Poore (D) vs. Clem Dickie Carter Jr. (R)
Magistrate District 5: Josephine (Jo) Orange (R) vs. Phillip Joe Bilyeu (D)
District Judge: Jason Petrie, Ken Williams (non-partisan race; a primary will be necessary if one or more other candidates file)
Others who have filed but as yet have no opposition:
State Representative: Martha Jane King (D)
Circuit Judge: Tyler Gill
County Clerk: Scottie Harper (D)
Judge-Executive: Logan Chick (D)
County Attorney: Joseph Ross (D)
Coroner: Mary L. Givens (D)
Property Valuation Administrator: Thomas Ben Brown (D)
Russellville Mayor: Mark Stratton (non-partisan)
Russellville City Council: Pat Walpole Bell, Sandra F. Kinser, Jack Whipple, S. Darlene Gooch, Bill Decker, Jimmy Davenport (six non-partisan seats; if more than 12 file, a primary will be held to reduce the field to a dozen candidates)
Constable District 2: John T. Monroe (D)
Constable District 4: Butch Inman Sr. (D)
Ben Brown will definitely be unopposed for reelection as PVA. A qualifying test is required before a candidate for that office can file, and the deadline for taking that test has passed. The same is true for circuit clerk, but Sherrie Wilkins is in the middle of a term and is not required to run this year.
The office of mayor of Lewisburg and the six council seats in Adairville, Auburn and Lewisburg will be open for election this year, but filing for those offices is not required until mid-summer because those cities have chosen not to use primary elections. The same is true for school board seats representing the Adairville, Auburn and Lewisburg school districts along with the Russellville school board seats now occupied by James Milam, Lovis Patterson and David Corbin. Some seats on the North and South Logan Soil & Water Districts will also be subject to summer filing.
Filing is done in the office of County Clerk Harper on West Third Street Russellville. Offices which represent more than one county require filing to be done at the office of Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes. Those include U.S. senator, U.S. representative, state representative, circuit judge, district judge, and commonwealth attorney.